


Running to You

by hope27



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-17 12:19:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hope27/pseuds/hope27
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Felicity calls Oliver because she's being followed, Oliver races to get to her in time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running to You

**Author's Note:**

> Set after "The Odessey" as Felicity is a part of the team. 
> 
> **Feedback and comments make my day! :)**
> 
> Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended.

The bright glow of his phone lit up the dark interior of the Foundry alerting Oliver to a phone call. Seeing Felicity’s name pop up on his screen, he smiled as he answered it.

"So your mother came to see me today," Felicity commented quickly after he picked up on the second ring. 

His eyebrows rose before they turned into a frown, “Why?"

He could hear the hesitation in her voice. “I’m sure it was nothing. It was just weird. I mean she hasn’t come down to the IT department…ever really. Not that she had any reason to before she took over for Walter, but still. Maybe I’m over-thinking it. I probably am over-thinking it. But it was just weird, and I’m not sure what to think…"

"Felicity." His voice was clipped and he pinched the bridge of his nose as she snapped out of her rambling.

"Sorry," she replied, and he nodded, as if she could see him. 

"Why did my mother come to see you?" he asked again, grabbing a bottle of water from the table near his training mat.

Felicity frowned, “I’m not really sure, I guess. She asked me what I had been researching for Walter. She said that an employee mentioned that I had been visiting Walter and doing something for him. I told her it was nothing. Just an accounting error that he wanted to look into and then an employee who was red-flagged during a routine check of the bank accounts. I left out the secret notebook with names written in it that you can only see with special infrared glasses, but she seemed to believe me. But then as she was leaving she told me it would continue to be in my best interest if I stopped looking into the accounting logs and anything Walter had me investigating."

She paused to take a deep breath and then waited, and he could almost see her absentmindedly chewing on her lower lip in worry. 

"Oliver?" she finally whispered into the phone, her voice timid and unsure.

A deep, low groan escaped his lips. He hadn’t discussed his mother’s possible involvement in the “undertaking” in weeks. It was an unspoken agreement he and Diggle held even though he knew Diggle didn’t trust Moira. But he couldn’t confront her again. Not after seeing her face that night when everything went so wrong.

"I’m not saying she was threatening me, but her tone…it didn’t sound like a friendly warning…" Felicity began again and Oliver knew he was going to have to convince her it was nothing. He could tell by the tone of her voice, she wasn’t so sure. But this was his mother. If he couldn’t trust her…then again, he’d learned that trust was not to be given lightly while on the island. Even the closest of friends could turn out to be your undoing.

Her voice trailed off and he took a deep breath before speaking, “Felicity, she was probably just telling you because she’s following any leads she can to find Walter, just like we are."

"But Oliver…"

"No," he cut her off, refusing to get into this argument again. “I told Diggle and I’m telling you too. My mother is off limits. We have no proof and I’m not going down that road again."

His voice was hard, and Felicity knew when she was not going to win an argument. 

"Fine," she replied, not bothering to mask her annoyance. 

The next sound Oliver heard was the dial tone. He ran a hand down his face, Diggle’s words and the sound of his mother’s recorded voice talking of threats creeping back into his mind. The images of that night came back to him in flashes; another recurring nightmare to add to his hundreds. He saw the terrified look on his mother’s face as she faced the end of his arrow, a picture of him and Thea held up in front of her pleading for her life. A gun in her hand and a shot piercing his shoulder and then darkness. 

He shuddered, and pushed the nagging feelings away, resuming his workout and hoping to erase the questions that rose in his mind and wouldn’t be silent.

***

The second time he saw her name pop up on his phone, he hesitated before answering it, wondering if her anger and annoyance had dissipated over the hours.

He was about to speak first when he immediately noticed her shallow breaths. He was standing and striding towards his bow and arrows before she even spoke a word.

"Oliver?" Her voice was higher than normal, but she was trying to keep it steady.

"Yeah, Felicity, I’m here," Oliver told her, urging her to speak.

"I think I’m being followed." By the extra noise he could hear in the background he could tell she was in the car.

"Where are you?" Oliver asked quickly, grabbing his hood and green paint as Diggle came into view, looking at him with concern as he heard the tone of Oliver’s voice.

Oliver quickly put Felicity on speaker phone. “I just left work. They started following me as soon as I got out of the parking garage. Black SUV, tinted windows…I thought maybe I was just being paranoid, but they’ve followed me on every short-cut I’ve taken."

Diggle was heading toward the computers to pull up the street cameras as Oliver continued to talk to her. “Where are you right now?"

"15th and Walnut," she said quickly and he could hear the fear and panic creeping into her voice.

"Felicity," he stated, his voice even and calm as he spoke, “Head back to work. If they didn’t start following you til you left they probably won’t follow you back in. Go to your office. Lock the door. I’m on my way."

"I’ve got my eyes on the SUV. Definitely doesn’t look like the friendly sort behind the wheel, Oliver," Diggle informed him as he hung up the phone. Nodding, he told Diggle to keep an eye on her, and to call him if anything changed before he ran out the door.

He was minutes away from the office building when his phone rang. It was Diggle. “They followed her into the garage, Oliver."

Cursing under his breath, he sped up, taking the last two turns as fast as he could. A dark SUV roared past him as he entered the parking garage and he was about to turn and follow it when he saw her car in the distance. Turning, he pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed, satisfied when he saw it hit its mark and stick.

"Diggle," he called, glad he had kept his partner on the line, “Follow the van. It’s got a tracking device on it now."

"Will do," Diggle replied. “Is she okay?"

But Oliver had already thrown off his helmet and pulled up his hood, careful of the security cameras placed throughout the parking lot. Running from his bike, he found Felicity’s car empty. He pounded on the glass in frustration as he looked around searching desperately for any trace of her.

A glint of light caught his eyes on the pavement a few paces in front of him. Running to it, he instantly recognized Felicity’s glasses. Dread filled him as he looked around for any other sign of his IT girl. He felt his heart rate increase with each step as he began to follow the direction she would have been running if she’d been fleeing as she lost them. Go to your office. Lock the doors. Maybe she’d made it there. His eyes landed on the elevator doors and what looked like a piece of fabric that was stuck between the heavy metal of the two doors. Pressing the button repeatedly, he glanced around as he waited until he heard the ding and the doors slid open.

He instantly et out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Crouched in a corner was Felicity, her purse clutched tightly in her trembling hands. She was staring out of the elevator, her eyes looking straight through him. Entering the elevator, he waited for the doors to close before quickly disabling the camera and pulling the stop suddenly thankful that cutbacks had limited the security officers this late at night.

Without saying a word, he kneeled directly in front of her, his hood still obscuring his face. Slowly, he put a hand on her arm. He was immediately rewarded with a swing of her fist at his face but he was faster than her and caught her hand. Her skin was ice cold as he wrapped his fingers around her fist.

"Felicity," he said quietly, not wanting to scare her anymore than she already was. “Felicity, it’s me. It’s Oliver."

Felicity looked at him for the first time, blinking her eyes as if trying to convince herself that he was really there. She finally let out noise that sounded like something between a sigh and a laugh. Her arms were wrapped around his neck before he could process what she was doing. Unprepared, he fell backward and landed with a thud on the hard floor of the elevator. Still, Felicity did not let go. 

"Felicity," he mumbled, hands finding their way to her back and stroking her hair softly as he tried to catch his breath from the hard abrupt landing. Her breath came out in short soft puffs next to his ear as if she was trying burrow her head inside his hood hoping it would protect her.

At the sound of his voice, he felt her stiffen as if suddenly realizing she was now completely lying on top of her boss, and she scrambled backwards. Untangling herself from him, she pressed herself back into the corner of the elevator, reclutching her purse to her chest as if her only means of protection.

"Oh! I’m so sorry! I don’t know what I was…here let me help you," she reached out a hand and Oliver grasped it, letting her help to pull him into a sitting position. 

Oliver started to laugh and Felicity frowned at him. After a few moments, she began to smile. He took this time to study her, taking in her appearance, assessing any injuries she might have. 

Her hair was falling out of the bun she had pulled it in this morning, her bright pink lipstick slightly smeared and her jack hung half off her shoulders. But it was the light pink mark marring her left cheek that had him the most concerned. 

She inched back when he suddenly reached out, and he raised his hands, palms out telling her he wasn’t going to hurt her. She was obviously still in some form of shock. It was another reminder that she wasn’t used to this type of life; something Oliver forgot too often, but it was also something he was thankful for. He liked her innocence, the white and black way she still sometimes viewed the world. Those two things were very much lost to him. Everything had become shades of grey; there was very little black and white anymore.

Holding her gaze, Oliver reached out again and this time she didn’t shy away. He gently ran his fingers over the forming bruise. 

"What happened?" he asked softly, and he felt her shiver beneath his touch.

"They followed me," she told him, closing her eyes against the memories, “Even back into the garage. I didn’t know what to do. I figured my best bet was to get back into the building. Hope that you got here soon…"

She opened her eyes, and he swallowed at the haunted look they held, “But they caught up to me before I could make it there. Thankfully, I was able to use some of the things you and Diggle have been teaching me. I guess one got me in the face, but then he got my purse - which also has my laptop in it - in the face…"

"That’s my girl," he mumbled, and a smiled tugged at her lips as her eyes widened. She pulled her legs towards her, wrapped her arms around them and laid her chin on her knees. He noticed her begin to shiver even more. Her adrenaline was wearing off.

"Did they say anything?" he asked knowing he needed to get her out of here as soon as possible. To somewhere safe, somewhere she felt safe.

The nervous look that filled her eyes at his questions worried him. “Felicity…"

"They said I had been warned. I need to stop looking into things I shouldn’t be. That it would be in my best interest…"

She stared at him then, letting her words hang in the air between them, and he began to shake his head, knowing where she was going with it. “It could be a coincidence…it’s a common saying…"

"Oliver!" He jumped at the intensity of her voice. Looking at her, he saw the anger burning in her eyes, the hurt lingering underneath. “I don’t believe in coincidences. I know she’s your mother, but eventually you are going to have to face the facts that she might not be the same person you thought she was…just like you aren’t the same person she thinks you are."

Her words cut his defenses like knives, and from the look on her face, she knew it. But it was also the truth. The shock of finding out his father was someone he never really knew changed him, he didn’t know if he could handle finding out his mother was involved in this as well.

Taking a deep breath, he moved to sit beside her, his back leaning against the wall of the elevator. 

"You’re right." His voice caused her to jump, and he reached out a hand to steady her. “I made peace with my father’s lies. It’s why I survived - to come back here and right his wrongs. I wanted to so badly to believe everything else was the same. But it’s not. And now it’s not just them lying, I’m lying too."

Felicity glanced up at Oliver, he felt her studying him. “What you’re doing…I understand why you’re doing it, and while I don’t always approve of your methods, you are trying to make this city a safer place.” She fumbled with her words for a moment, trying to find the right ones, “I mean, I’m glad you’re around…"

Her small smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, but he could feel the sincerity of her words. 

"Even if before I met you I never got followed around by armed men…"

He saw her flinch and knew she wanted her words to hold more sarcasm than they did. 

"I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner," he muttered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He was surprised when she let herself lean against him, her head dropping agianst his shoulder. It was his turn to shiver as her breath tickled his neck, her eyelashes ghosting against his skin.

"It’s okay," she replied softly, “At least I got to try out some of those techniques you taught me. A little sooner than I wanted to, but…"

Oliver smiled, “I’m going to have to ask Diggle to teach me the one with the purse," he teased.

Felicity poked him in the ribs, “That one’s all mine. But I’d love to see Digs face…"

"Speaking of which, I should call him back, and we should get you out of here," he murmured, squeezing her shoulder. 

He felt Felicity nod against his shoulder, he could still feel the tremors that were running through her body and knew she wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. Adrenaline crashes came on fast and hard.

"Come on, let’s get you somewhere safe." He slowly stood up, pulling her up with him.

A glance at her face told him she wasn’t really listening. Her eyelids fluttered as she blinked rapidly but her eyes were unfocused. 

"I’m safe here," she whispered without thinking, her head still resting against his shoulder. 

He smiled softly and hit the stop button again, effectively putting the elevator back in motion. “Yeah, you are."

***

Loading his bike into the trunk, he called Diggle as he drove out of the garage. 

"We’ll be there in 10," he told his partner before hanging up, knowing that he couldn’t just take her home and leave her there. Not after a night like tonight. She was going to be a bundle of nerves after her shock wore off completely, and knowing Felicity, that meant a lot of pacing and a lot of talking.

Arriving back at the Queen’s Consolidated Warehouse, he steadied her with an arm around her waist as they entered the Foundry. She went immediately to the couch, curling up and wrapping her arms around her legs once more. Diggle and Oliver had brought in a month ago after Felicity had complained at the lack of comfortable seating in the place.

"How is she?" Diggle asked as he came over with a blanket that he handed to Oliver.

Covering her and giving her shoulders a soft squeen, he turned to Diggle and sighed. “As well as she can be…she’s scared and still in shock,” he asnwered, glancing back down at his IT girl before smiling as he added, “but she fought them off."

Diggle smirked as well, “That’s our girl."

Oliver frowned at the use of the word “our," but quickly shook off the odd feeling it left him with and moved to sit in front of the computer. 

"Where did the van end up?" he asked, returning to business, and ignoring the knowing look that Diggle gave him.

Pointing to the screen, Diggle replied, “Warehouse down by the docks. Haven’t seen any activity from it since it went it, but the signal dropped about a half an hour ago. Apparently they found your tracker."

Oliver nodded, and furrowed his brow. “Felicity thinks they are tied to my mother." His voice was troubled as he tried to wrap his mind around that possibility.

"But you don’t believe her, right?" Diggle retorted, and Oliver bristled at the annoyance in his voice.

"Actually, Diggle," he bit out, turning to glare at the other man before returning his gaze to the computer screens. “She might be right. My mother paid Felicity a visit this morning. I waved it off, but her attackers tonight used the exact same phrase."

"Could be a coincidence," Diggle suggested and Oliver raised an eyebrow at his sudden switching of sides. 

"I don’t believe in coincidences," a tired voice drifted their way from the couch.

Both men turned to stare at the third member of their team. Her hair fell in disheveled waves on her shoulders, her lips were now completely void of lipstick, and her eyes stared at them with more clarity then when she entered the Foundry, both eyebrows raised in challenge.

"Are you okay?" Diggle asked, walking towards her. 

She squinted her eyes suddenly, rubbing them and then quickly glancing around in panic. “My glasses! Where are they? I’m as blind as a monkey who stares at the sun all day without them."

Diggle glanced at Oliver trying to hide his smile at her analogy. 

"I’ve got them," Oliver spoke up, pulling them from a pocket in his jacket. “You lost them in the parking lot."

"Oh, thank you!" She rushed to him, placing her glasses back on her face and sighing. “Much better."

"Now, what were we talking about?" she asked, rubbing her hands together a little too eagerly. Oliver noticed the slight tremble that ran through her but said nothing. 

"That you don’t believe in coincidences, apparently," Diggle reminded them, walking back over to the computers to join them.

"Right!" Felicity stabbed the air with her pointer finger and turned, shooing Oliver out of her chair and furiously typing at the computer keyboard. A few seconds later, she had pulled up the security cameras from the Queen’s parking garage. She paused it when the dark SUV pulled into view and paused it when the men exited the car. 

"Aha," she cried, causing both men to lean in as she pointed to the license plate. “I was hoping I had pulled into the right area to catch the plates. Of course, they are probably fake or stolen, but…" she shrugged continuing to type as she pulled up another dialogue box. 

Her shoulders slumped a few minutes later when her suspicions were confirmed. “Stolen."

"You got away, Felicity," Diggle reminded her, “That’s what matters."

"So what’s next?" she jumped up when the room got quite and Oliver watched as she began pacing in front of them. “I heard you talking about a warehouse when I was waking up? Do we go there? How do we find them? Do you think they’ll try again? Maybe I can be bait for them…"

"Felicity."

Oliver stepped up in front of her, cutting off her path. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she bumped right into him, throwing her off balance. He steadied her with two hands on her hips. He ingored the desire that rose within him to slip his fingers under her thin blouse and feel the warmth of her soft skin.

He watched silently as she took a few breaths and then he felt her start to shake again. Pushing against him, she tried to move past him, but he held firm, and she stilled her hands against his chest.

"Oliver." Her voice came out weaker than she wanted it to. He could tell from the way her face fell, and the watery eyes that met his.

"Why can’t I stop shaking?" she whispered, “Ugh…I hate this. I feel so weak…You guys don’t shake every time you have to run away from bad guys." She frowned, pausing before backtracking, “Not that you run away a lot. In fact, it’s more like the other guys run away from you."

Oliver gave her that soft half smile, half laugh. He had to admit he was fond of her little ramblings. And the way she looked at him afterward, unsure yet prideful all at the same time. It drove him crazy.

"We’ve had a bit more experience in high intensity situations, Felicity," Diggle broke the silence, noticing that Oliver was too caught up in his own thoughts and feelings to say anything. “I bet if you ask Oliver he’ll tell you went through something similar his first few times of being in an intense situation just like I did. You get used to it with time."

Oliver raised his eyebrow at his friend. He knew better than to ask questions about his time on the island. Diggle just smiled back at him smugly. 

Sighing, Oliver gave in, “It’s true, Felicity. Your body isn’t used to this much adrenaline. You were in shock when I found you in the elevator, but you were starting to come down from that adrenaline high. Now your body is just trying to regulate itself again."

Felicity nodded, “So…no sleeping tonight then?"

Her nervous giggle faded as she glanced back and forth between the knowing looks of the two men in front of her. “What?"

Diggle just smiled as he walked to the training mat, and Oliver squeezed her hips. “Looks like we have time to practice your self-defense moves," he stated, winking at her.

Felicity’s shoulder’s slumped. “Haven’t I had enough for the night?" she muttered as Oliver grabbed her overnight bag from under the desk knowing it’s where she left her workout gear. “Get changed."

"Can I at least have dinner first?" she retorted, eyeing the bag. “Chinese?" 

Diggle sighed at her voice and grabbed his keys as he headed toward the door. Felicity just smiled as Oliver shook his head realizing how much this girl had them both under her thumb in a few short months.

Three hours later, Chinese cartons sat in front of the three of them as they sat on the couch. One of the computer monitors sat on a table in front of them; Iron Man and Captain America arguing with each other on the screen.

"I love this movie," Felicity exclaimed for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Oliver grunted, “We know."

That earned him a jab in the ribs with her elbow. 

"Actually, I have to admit, it’s not bad." He added, pretending to be wounded by her hit.

"See," Felicity stated, smirking. “Now we have to go back and watch all the individual character ones."

"How did we get from training to watching movies?" Diggle wondered aloud.

Oliver said nothing, instead pointed a finger in Felicity’s direction. Nodding, Diggle relaxed back against the couch cushion. 

When the morning came, the three were fast asleep. Diggle was snoring loudly, his head leaning against the back of the couch, hand still on the remote. Felicity’s feet were tucked under his legs and her head rested on Oliver’s shoulder who’s left arm draped over her shoulders while his head leaned against hers.


End file.
